Here's a collection of vero (stripboard) and tagboard guitar and bass effect layouts that we have put together covering many classic and popular effects in growing numbers. Many of these have been posted on freestompboxes.org, so check that site out for great discussions on building your own effect pedals. Enjoy the builds and please also visit us on Facebook and Twitter

Friday, 17 March 2017

Can't find much info on a description of it, but what I do know is that it a superfuzz running into a wah. There's literally 1 component value difference in the superfuzz, the rest is straight up identical to the standard superfuzz.

Quick note about the wiring. Just like the Shin Ei 6TR Fuzz Wah I posted the other day, the fuzz comes before the wah, so you'll
wire it up according to the dual effect wiring as shown in the offboard
wiring tab. You'll notice instead of making this on 1 massive board I
opted for 2 separate boards. This will give you more options for
placement in an enclosure, by preventing it from being 1 massive board.

Thursday, 16 March 2017

This is a very cool and underrated offering from the king of nasty
vintage fuzz. This one is Kent branded but has the shin-ei stamp inside.
It is widely known that the wah in these is less than desired. This is
definitely not a funk machine and you will not channel your inner
Hendrix here, but the fuzz really makes up for it. These are 2
transistors short of being an exact superfuzz circuit (TR-8) and in my
opinion lie somewhere between the fy-2 and the fy-6.
It has 2 knobs for volume and fuzz adjust, as well as a fuzz tone
selector switch that changes from hard to soft. Very much like the
superfuzz it basically goes from a scooped, darker sounding tone (soft)
to a cutting midrange sound (hard). It also has 2 stomp switches, one of
which will turn the fuzz on or off. And one that works just like a
standard wah would, employed by the treadle.
I got this pedal for (what I would call) a steal, and these
(non-superfuzz) versions can be had for very cheap on ebay or the
forums. They are well worth it in my opinion, even though this version
is known for a severe volume drop and doesn't meet unity gain in most
situations (very much like the fy-2) it sounds really great. This is the
chainsaw fuzz your friends warned you about, to me its like the
superfuzz without the octave up. I'm glad I chose not to follow the hype
and took a chance on this one.

This is supposedly the fuzz tone used by Jesus and the Mary Chain back in the day on Psychocandy.

Quick note about the wiring. The fuzz comes before the wah, so you'll wire it up according to the dual effect wiring as shown in the offboard wiring tab. You'll notice instead of making this on 1 massive board I opted for 2 separate boards. This will give you more options for placement in an enclosure, by preventing it from being 1 massive board.

Monday, 13 March 2017

Not much info on this one, but basically it was a compressor made by Univox in the 70's as part of their "foot" series. Seems to be loved by many and was recently requested. In addition to the schematic posted in the request section I found another schematic posted over at FSB, so I made 2 different layouts.

One thing to note is that the original didn't use an LED & LDR, but used a Vactrol labeled MCD527. I'm not quite sure what color LED and LDR range you should use. I would start with try a red LED and socket the LDR and try different ones to get a good range. If you were to try a vactrol maybe a NSL32 or VTL5C3 which have bee used on many different optical compressors.

Don't forget if you're using an LED & LDR to cover them in shrink wrap to block out any light and increase their efficiency and effect.

Saturday, 11 March 2017

"The Hi Volt is a mid- to high-gain dirt box, with a fully saturated
effect that is internally charge-pumped to 16VDC, and brandishes a high
headroom, custom-tuned 3-band active EQ. This high-voltage configuration
allows for very flexible and potent sonic possibilities, ranging from
blues to metal and everything in between.With its generous low-end wallop, the Hi Volt creates amazing depth
and three-dimensional mass with an amp or rig of any size. Now your
compact combo amp can sound like a towering full stack, simply by
engaging the Hi Volt’s unique circuitry.As you increase the Hi Volt’s “Bass” control, you can add warmth and
body to your tone without the signal getting loose or tubby. The Hi Volt
is a very tight effect and responds to rapidly changing playing
dynamics, just like your favorite tube amp would.With the gain knob set at around 9 o’clock, you get a tight, British
clang that nails your favorite 70’s classic rock riffs. Set the gain at 1
o’clock for more saturation from signing lead tones to 90’s grunge
riffage. Setting the gain around 3 o’clock will deliver some of the most
brutal tones to ever come out of a stomp box."Original FSB thread and schematic available here.14/04/17Layout updated! Connected D1 to pin 8 instead of 7 and changed 820K resistor to 882K!

Friday, 10 March 2017

Basically this was Sunn Amplifiers take on the Maestro FZ-1A, but with Silicon transistors instead of Germanium. Best description I found of the tone was this.

Depending on the setting of the effect control, it can go from classic
"fuzz face" sounds and beyond - achieving the sustain of a big muff.
It's a three stage, high gain, low voltage solid state amplifier
circuit.

I was unable to to find any videos of it, but as soon as I saw the words Sunn and Fuzz together I knew I had to take a crack at this pedal.

The circuit runs off of +1.5V, just like the FZ-1A. The problem with this is that we would need either a dedicated power supply or run it off a AA battery, and you wouldn't be able to wire up an indicator LED. So what I've done is made a board for the original, and did some digging to see how to get +1.5V from a +9V source.

What I found was that using an LM317 regulator you can get the voltage down to +1.5V with the right resistors. After doing some calculations with the regulator board you should get +1.516V. If my calculations are right, that means you can run it just like any other pedal and have an indicator LED.

Well as promised I've taken the and made layouts for 7 of some of the most desirable vintage wahs. You'll notice that they all look damn near identical, and that's because they're all based on the same circuit with some component differences. So instead of doing my usual description for each, I figured I'll let the videos speak for themselves.

Original Thomas Organ CryBaby

Vox Grey Wah

Vox v847

Shin Ei Wah

Maestro Boomerang BG-1

Maestro Boomerang Wah BG-2

One note about the BG-2 that makes it different from all the others. The switch allows it to go from a wah to a volume pedal.

Saturday, 4 March 2017

For those that are just never satisfied by whats out there in the land of wahs I took the standard Dunlop GBC-95 Crybaby and added some features based on common mod points. So how's this supposed to work?

Voice Pot: Changes the voice of the the wah by changing the sharpness and making it more "vocal." The larger the value the more "vocal" the wah sounds.

Gain Pot: Really this controls the overall bass and gain of the wah. The lower the value the more growl and bass you'll get.

Sweep Switch (SW): This controls the sweep range of the wah. The larger the cap the more bass sweep you'll get. For instance the common value is 10nF, which i put on the board already, and the bass wah has a 68nF. Personally if I were making this I would start with the stock value and increase using values I liked up to the bass value, but hey, that's just me.

Sweep Pot: This will control the range of the week of the wah pot. No different then what you find on the Dimeback or Cantrell Wah.

R1: This will set the volume of the wah, the smaller the value the more volume you'll get. Typically it's 68k. So you can mess around with it and get as much or as little volume as you liked.

Here is a layout for the Mantic Effects Vitriol, a variable high-gain distortion with low and high pass filters.Thanks to Bobbass4k for creating a schematic.You can find his original FSB thread here (should read it before you build it).I've drawn 2 versions: the original and one with an added Mids control.

One of the most influential guitarists to come out of the Seattle rock
scene, Jerry Cantrell's epic riffs and searing tone have been the
driving force behind Alice in Chains since the late 80's. His melancholy
wah-drenched melodies in modern classics like "Man in the Box" and "The
Rooster" left an indelible mark on a generation of guitarists. Jerry
favored wah-wahs with a wider, darker response, and Dunlop has
painstakingly replicated that moody sound to create his signature pedal.
It's custom-voiced for a tight, punchy heel-down tone and a rugged
side-control knob lets you fine tune the toe-down frequency. And with
its antique, oxidized "road worn" brass casting and custom Alice in
Chains tread, this is one pedal that looks as great as it sounds.

Figured while i was at it, since there are a few signature wahs that are the based on the same board with a few changes, why not just make post a few other layouts.

First up the ZW-45 Wylde Wah.

From the source:

Modern Cry Baby Master Zakk Wylde and Dunlop have joined forces to
deliver the toughest, meanest wah pedal on the planet. Built from the
ground up with great tone and rugged durability in mind, this pedal can
stand up to the crushing stomp of metal's reigning king of lead guitar.
The Wylde Wah features a heavy-duty raw-metal casing and road worthy
components to withstand years of ass-kicking abuse. With guts that have
been finely tuned to Zakk's specs, this wah is specially voiced to
deliver an extra thick and cutting tone.

I was asked if I could make a layout for the hendrix crybaby, so here she is. not a whole lot different from a regular crybaby. There are 2 additional caps, resistor change, and different value pot. You may be wondering what these changes do, and in short it moves the sweep range lower.

I have one, it was my first wah, which I got used for $30, and personally I like the lower sweep. I've also compared it with a few others I've built, Colorsound Fuzz Wah and aVox, and I feel there's a nice sweet spot with this one when playing single coils. I know there are those that aren't crazy about it, but hey not everyone has the same tastes.

Thursday, 2 March 2017

This ll discrete, MOSFET based circuit provides nearly 30db of
unadulterated clean gain boost with a minimum amount of tone coloration.
Note that you can also use this as an attenuator by turning the Boost
knob counterclockwise away from the noon position. It can also be used
as a powerful buffer with an input impedance of around 5M Ohms and an
output of around 1K Ohm, best used after your effects chain. This device
does not create distortion or overdrive on its own. However, it can be
used to drive your favorite amp or pedal into singing distorted sustain.
Simple, yet effective. Top notch components and circuit design assure
that your signal arrives to its destination in a truly pure state.

When you look at the circuit you can see it's basically a modified SHO.

A number of people have asked me to do a build guide for one of these effects, but I noticed the other day that one of the guys here (timmy)...

Note

Not all these layouts are verified and some are put together from unverified schematics. So if you have good luck, or bad luck for that matter, then please let me know by dropping a comment in the topic. Thanks.

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